1. Field of the Invention
The disclosures herein relate to a connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrical equipment generally operates with electric power supplied from a power supply.
For the purpose of supplying electric power, connectors are typically used to supply electric power from the power supply to the electric equipment. Such connectors include a male-type connector having one or more male pins and a female-type connector having one or more female sockets, which mate with each other to establish electrical connection, as disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2.
In recent years, the supply of a direct-current high-voltage electric power has been under study for local-area electric power transmission as a measure against global warming. With such a power supply arrangement, power loss is small at the time of voltage conversion and electric power transmission, and, also, there is no need to use thick cables. Especially for information devices such as servers, such a power supply arrangement is believed to be desirable due to their large consumption of electric power.
Concerning the electric power that is supplied to electric equipment, there may be a case in which high voltage affects a human body and the operation of electronic components. When high voltage electric power is used, for information devices such as servers, connectors used at the point of electrical connection may need to have a special design that is different from that of normal connectors used for commercial AC power supply because manual work is performed at the time of installment and maintenance of the devices.
In the case of a connector in which a switch is embedded, a conventional switch cannot be used when voltage supplied from a power supply is higher than 100 V, or is a direct-current high voltage. When power supplied from a power supply is a direct-current 400 V, for example, a conventional switch for alternate-current 100 V cannot guarantee sufficient safety and reliability, and, thus, there is a risk in the continuing use of such a switch.
Accordingly, it may be desirable to provide a connector that can safely supply high-voltage electric power.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 5-82208    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-31301